Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2014
Clinical Trial Observational StudyEfficacy and safety of a six-hour continuous overlap method for converting intravenous to transdermal fentanyl in cancer pain.
Managing cancer pain often requires opioid medications, such as fentanyl, which is frequently initiated parenterally, and then converted to transdermal form. Little evidence exists to guide this conversion. ⋯ A continuous six-hour overlap method is a safe and effective strategy when converting from IVF to TF in patients with cancer pain. A slight increase in pain intensity may occur, but does not lead to increased rescue doses.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2014
Factors associated with survival after opioid rotation in cancer patients presenting to an outpatient supportive care center.
Data on cancer outpatients undergoing opioid rotation (OR) are limited. Understanding the characteristics of patients who do not follow up after OR could facilitate optimization of OR. ⋯ Our preliminary study suggests that patients with advanced cancer, poorer performance status, opioid-induced neurotoxicity, and higher MDAS scores are less likely to follow up after OR and may have shorter overall survival and, therefore, require closer follow-up. Patients with unsuccessful OR also may have a shorter overall survival. Further studies are warranted.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2014
Outpatient pain predicts subsequent one-year acute health care utilization among adults with sickle cell disease.
Patient demographic and clinical factors have known associations with acute health care utilization (AHCU) among patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), but it is unknown if pain measured predominantly in an outpatient setting is a predictor of future AHCU in patients with SCD. ⋯ Findings support use of outpatient CPI scores or pain intensity and age to identify at-risk young adults with SCD who are likely to benefit from improved outpatient pain management plans.